Staff Lounge to Honour WWI Nursing Heroine

When Nona Macdonald Heaslip was 14 years old, she had the “biggest thrill of my life”—she went to stay with her Aunt Beatrice in New York City. “I remember her beautiful narratives about anything I questioned her on,” says Heaslip today. “She seemed to be a font of information.”

It’s no wonder she was thrilled—her aunt was Beatrice Mary MacDonald, a true heroine of World War I.

Born to a farming family in Prince Edward Island, MacDonald moved to New York to study nursing. She qualified in 1905 and served as a surgical nurse until war broke out. In 1915, she volunteered to serve in France with the American ambulance service. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, she enlisted with the Army Nurses Corps.

In August of that year she was working at a clearing station in Belgium, four miles from the frontlines. A German air raid started. MacDonald continued caring for the wounded until a piece of shrapnel hit her right eye, causing immediate blindness. After recovering from her injury (but never her sight), she returned to service, saying “I’ve only started doing my bit.” She nursed in France and Belgium until after the Armistice. MacDonald received many medals and awards for her service, becoming the first women in history to receive a Distinguished Service Cross and a Purple Heart.

Back in New York, she went to work for one of the city’s leading surgeons, acting as both his nurse and practice manager. Later she served as director of the Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing for 23 years.

Says Heaslip, “I was very proud and greatly in awe of her.” She was inspired to forge a unique career path of her own. She worked in radio, television and film in Vancouver and Toronto before spending three years at the UN and 10 years with Time Inc. in New York City. During that time, she often lunched or attended the theatre with her aunt. “She was 5’8”, sturdy, and had a glass eye, so if she was looking at you, it was commanding,” Heaslip says with a smile. “You felt like saluting!”

Recently the William and Nona Heaslip Foundation made a $100,000 donation to West Park’s Get Your Life Back Campaign to support the creation of the staff lounge and wellness centre in the new hospital. The gift honours the bravery and dedication of Beatrice MacDonald, as well as other members of Heaslip’s family who worked in healthcare. MacDonald’s remarkable story will be recognized in the new lounge, as an inspiration for our own dedicated nurses and staff.

“She was such a unique, upstanding, loyal, brilliant and thoughtful person—trustworthy to the end, and always determined to do well at everything she did,” says Heaslip.

But because MacDonald lived and worked in the U.S. most of her life, her story is not well known in the country of her birth. Heaslip is hoping to bring her aunt’s story into the pages of Canadian history.

The new lounge and wellness centre will be a source of respite for staff from a busy shift, helping our hard-working care team to rejuvenate before returning to the front line. Says Heaslip, “I’m glad to do what I can—nurses don’t get enough recognition!”

This story originally appeared in the Winter 2023 issue of the Giving Lives Back newsletter. Click here to read the full issue.